Let me hit you with a hard truth…nobody cares about your product! They care about their own problems, their own frustrations, and what’s keeping them up at night. And if your marketing doesn’t speak to that? You’re losing sales.

Today, I’m sitting down with Olga Denisova, a hyper-growth marketing powerhouse who scaled Semrush to a $2.69 billion IPO and is now the CMO of GotPhoto, the go-to platform for business photographers. She’s seen firsthand what works—and what fails miserably—in marketing.

We dive into:

✅ Why most startups get messaging wrong (and how to fix it)

✅ The secret to omnichannel marketing that actually converts

✅ Sales vs. Marketing: Why this battle is killing your business

✅ How to use community-driven growth to scale without a massive budget

✅ The real reason your campaigns aren’t working, and how to fix them fast

Olga is no fluff, no theory. Just raw, unfiltered insights on what it takes to win in today’s market. If you’re tired of wasting money on marketing that doesn’t sell, this episode is for you.

Episode Highlights

"Marketing without testing is just a very expensive guessing game." - Olga Denisova

"Most businesses don’t have a marketing problem—they have a messaging problem." - John Rankins

"Community-led growth is the most underrated marketing strategy today." - Olga Denisova

"Most marketing strategies fail because they’re built in boardrooms, not based on real customer feedback." - John Rankins

"AI is powerful, but the human touch in marketing will always be irreplaceable." - Olga Denisova

"Perfection is the enemy of progress—launch, learn, and adjust." - John Rankins

"The best marketing is when your customers do the selling for you." - Olga Denisova

Chapters

(01:00) - Journey into Tech Marketing

(06:00) - Understanding Digital Marketing Insights

(13:48) - Positioning and Messaging for Startups

(18:01) - Understanding Omnichannel Marketing for Startups

(22:50) - Finding the Right Marketing Channels

(30:11) - Sales and Marketing Collaboration

(36:01) - Defining KPIs and Metrics Together

(36:51) - Creating a Seamless Offline and Online Experience

(40:07) - Successful Campaigns: Attract, Engage, Convert

(44:00) - Learning from Failures and Building Trust

Connect with Olga Denisova

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gotphoto_official

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olgamarketingpro 

X: https://x.com/GotPhotoUSA 

Connect with John Rankins

Website: https://thesalesmachine.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheSalesMachineOfficial

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/thesalesmachine_official/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/thesalesmachineofficial/

YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@JohnRankinsOfficial